Clement Livingstone King, F.C.A.;

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CLEMENT
LIVINGSTONE
KING
F.O.
In Memoriam
In the late afternoon of Thursday, July
8, 1965, a plane out of Vancouver ex­ploded
in flight, carrying to their deaths
fifty-two passengers and crew members,
among them Clement Livingstone King,
the senior partner of Deloitte, Plender,
Haskins & Sells, Canada.
At the age of forty-nine, Clem King
could reasonably have expected that
his most productive years still lay ahead.
He was by nature inclined to look be­yond
the present to the farther range.
He had the intellect and determination
to bring into being plans that for other
people would have remained merely
dreams or aspirations. So many of these,
formed or partly formed, must have
died with him. For his partners, his
tragic loss is thus particularly great.
Indeed, it was recognition of these
qualities that, in 1954, had led Walter
J. Macdonald, who was then organizing
Deloitte, Plender, Haskins & Sells, Can­ada
as a national firm, to induce Clem
to become partner-in-charge of Toronto
Office. Clem was at that time, and had
been for eight years, filling the impor­tant
post of Executive Secretary of the
Canadian Institute of Chartered Ac­countants.
Before that he had been for
five years Executive Assistant to the
President of the University of Alberta,
where he had earned his Bachelor of
Commerce degree. He had qualified as
a chartered accountant in 1940.
Late in 1959, Walter Macdonald
died, and Clem was chosen senior part­ner
of the firm. It fell to him to weld,
by leadership and inspiration, the sev­eral
firms that had been merged in the
previous six years. The Canadian prac­tice
today is Clem's best memorial.
Clem was undoubtedly among the
most widely known chartered account­ants
in Canada. He was Secretary of
The Institute of Chartered Accountants
of Ontario, and had served on impor­tant
committees of the professional
bodies. He was a member of a number
of clubs and was particularly active in
The Canadian Cancer Society.
But for many Canadians, and for
many in the United States and the
United Kingdom, Clem will be best
remembered as a friend. He enjoyed
meeting people and was particularly
adept at removing awkwardness from
any social gathering involving stran­gers.
With those close to him, he would
talk sometimes of his goals in life which
were invariably demanding because he
set such high standards in everything.
Although he must have been disap­pointed
often with the conduct or per­formance
of others, he was more chari­table
to their weaknesses than to his
own.
Clem is survived by his wife, Ella, a
son at university and a daughter of high
school age. His family were very im­portant
to him, and although his work
was demanding he planned it so as to
spend most weekends at home. He en­joyed
his summer cottage and water-skiing
when he was able to get away,
as well as other outdoor activities such
as golfing.
Any death is a loss, but the prema­ture
decease of a man such as Clem
King is a real tragedy. He was so in­tensely
alive, was so important in the
lives of so many people, and had so
many things to do that we wonder that
he could cany such a load of responsi­bility.
He was ambitious, but not just
for himself—his firm came first. He was
trustworthy in the finest sense. In some
measure all his associates have been
influenced for the better by him; it was
indeed a great privilege to have known
him. JAMES G. DUNCAN
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